Pearl CEO Andy Kurtzig shares lessons learned

Build a product and test with customers first; Mission and values matter

Quora may be getting tons of attention for the amount of money it's raised, but Pearl is also a service that let's people get answers to their questions. The difference between the two companies is that Pearl has raised a lot less money, but is generating a ton more (in the order of a $100 million gross revenue run-rate). Watch Andy Kurtzig, CEO and founder of Pearl.com, a website dedicated to connecting people with professionals in hundreds of different categories, share his stories about he bootstrapped his company in the early days and how he scaled it.

Splash is a startup event and competition, where seasoned CEOs and founders of fast-growing tech companies, give TED-like speeches about their lessons and advice. At our next Splash event, held in San Francisco, you'll hear from Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, which has raised $250 million in funding and has recently been valued at $1-plus billion, as well as Renaud Laplanche, founder and CEO of Lending Club, which has raised some $100 million and is also valued at well north of $500 million.